Thursday, September 23, 2010

WInter decides to stay on...

The wind blew out one of our sliding doors last night resulting in a visit from the glass company today. I can remember this kind of seasonal change when I was a kid but haven't experienced it for a while. Could this mean a nice hot summer? Roll on December and let's find out. We might do the Rail Trail this year so a week of no rain would be much appreciated.

By the way... Just one more week before Mr Key's GST increase... 15% Although this is in line with other OECD countries 15 just seems so much larger than 12.5. On the bright side personal tax is due to decrease along with company tax. Net tax gain by the government from our family though. :(

Funny story from last night... ANZ bank had flown two senior staff from Auckland to the mayoral function. Their aim was to smooze the Chinese agents and the schools so that we cold help facilitate ANZ to be the primary deposit bank for student fees (and sundry costs). NZ requires that students prove financial ability by having money sitting in a bank account for a length of time before applying for a visa. ANZ wants access to that money. Anyway 2 local staff and two execs turned up to the function and were around pressing the flesh. When I was talking to them I remembered that as part of our school's orientation we take students to set up bank accounts on their first day. I was pretty sure that Ginny took our students to ANZ so I went on about how great their service was and how much business we had put their way. Then I remembered that one of the bankers had visited the school recently to meet the staff and that I still had the name card in my pocket- I pulled out the name card to show them....and it was the National Bank. A little awkward.